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Glad to see that is a HIGH priority to fix, because its been the TOP of my list for whats wrong at a PDGA event for some time now.....

Indeed, many of the "top pros" smoke. Ken Climo's voice wasn't always that raspy. And George Smith might not be able to play ever again if he doesn't get to chain smoke during a round.

The smoking issue should be taken care of venue by venue. Dry and windy, definitely no smoky. Otherwise, let the venue dictate the rules for the property. Graceland doesn't allow smoking on campus, so no smoke on campus, or walk to the street or over the fence to the lagoon to smoke. Designated smoking area, problem solved.

Personally, I think it was just an issue that didn't really need to be dealt with. Sort of like Congress reaffirming that "In God We Trust" would stay on the money for the foreseeable future. Of course, if Congress said nothing about it this week, "In God We Trust" would have still been printed/stamped on the money...it didn't need to be reaffirmed. You'd think they had more important matters to attend to.

Logged

Missouri....our state animal is sterile, our state rock is lead, and we elected a dead guy to the U.S. Senate. Of course, he was the best candidate.

Loomis

Again,If you want the sport to go to the next level, you have to remove the atmosphere of "casual" from it. As long as the sport comes across as just a leisure activity it will never attract real sponsors, or real support from people outside the sport. That's the reality of it. It's a give and take. If Feldberg, Klimo and Smith want to see their sport be taken more seriously, then they have to leave the smokes in the car. Simple as that. It doesn't matter if there is a fire danger or not. Smoking while playing makes our sport look silly. It may be enjoyable for the smoker, but there is the Catch 22 of it all. To smoke and watch the sport wallow in obscurity for a longer period of time. Or not smoke and perhaps attract the support, which will make the sport grow.

When did it become a rule that people had to wear shirts during PDGA events? Was this measure met with similar resistance by those players who only like to play shirtless?

Again,If you want the sport to go to the next level, you have to remove the atmosphere of "casual" from it. As long as the sport comes across as just a leisure activity it will never attract real sponsors, or real support from people outside the sport. That's the reality of it. It's a give and take. If Feldberg, Klimo and Smith want to see their sport be taken more seriously, then they have to leave the smokes in the car. Simple as that. It doesn't matter if there is a fire danger or not. Smoking while playing makes our sport look silly. It may be enjoyable for the smoker, but there is the Catch 22 of it all. To smoke and watch the sport wallow in obscurity for a longer period of time. Or not smoke and perhaps attract the support, which will make the sport grow.

This portion of your post is filled with "maybe", "if", and "perhaps". Nothing is to say that in the event smoking IS banned in tourneys, disc golf will ever attract the revenue and sponsorship necessary to compete with sports such as golf or tennis (bowling is a possibility). It actually could do the exact opposite, as I will note below. Since I will never have to worry about playing in a Major event, that ban doesn't affect me. All sports have participants that use tobacco and it is (somewhat) regulated at the professional level....unfortunately they dont/cant regulate smokeless tobacco because it isnt as obvious. If they deem it is that important of an issue, I suggest having "Professional Only" tournaments and have that as a requirement.

However....as a smoker, it does affect me in the event they decide to pass the ruling on to lower tier events. If the venue does not prohibit smoking, then as an amatuer player, why should I have additional censureship levied against me? I can play in a softball tournament under ASA rules (for example) and still smoke between innings as long as smoking is allowed in the venue. Should the PDGA decide to rule along those lines, I really hope they get enough sponsorship to make up for the loss of revenues from smokers (I'd guess 1/3 to 1/2 of the entries in most tourneys?). If you figure there are even an average of 10 tourneys a week with an average of 100 entries at $40 each (I havent done the exact math...just an approximation/hypothetical) and even 25% of those are smokers, that would be a loss of approx $520,000 per year. Granted... some/most of that could be recouped by other non smokers entering, but you have just alienated 25% of your core players who will not be paying PDGA fees every year.

And how does " Smoking while playing makes our sport look silly."? It is no more silly than having a jaw full of seeds/chew or drinking beer while playing, yet there doesnt seem to be any outcry about that.

I can't see this sport ever being a "big time" sport commercially. It has nothing to do with smoking or not smoking. Shirts or shirtless. In fact those 2 things might differenciate this sport from it's larger more commercially succesful brethen "ball golf". Most folks think that if we act like ball golfers and dress like ball golfers the sport might take off. So what's the difference from the former other than the fact that we are chucking a piece of plastic. NOTHING!!!! For instance, X Game sports have become popular for the most part because they are doing something different not because they mimic another sport. In fact, I doubt the X Games would have many contestants if there were drug testing before events. I don't think their fans think they go "smokeless" and could care less if they wear a shirt. What we're doing is akin to taking the game of basketball and playing with ping pong balls and smaller basket. Yes it might be fun and it might not be easy but will it ever be as succesful as the origional? Don't get me wrong. I love this sport and enjoy seeing it grow but commercial success? I'm very sceptical.